And Vladimir Guerrero had the game-winning hit for the Rangers Thursday, in their 11th consecutive victory.

Guerrero is second in MLB in runs batted in and has 13 more than the next most productive DH.

And although he is only hitting .259 with a .317 on-base and a .411 slugging percentage on the road, his replacement in Anaheim is hitting .271 on the road with .333 on-base and .406 slugging.

Overall Hideki Matsui trails Guerrero in slugging, .544 to .419, with six fewer home runs and 20 fewer hits.

Hard to quantify Guerrero's contribution to the fact that Josh Hamilton is the only A.L. outfielder with a .600-plus slugging percentage, or that Michael Young is one of three A.L. third basemen with 50 RBI's.

But if you look at the Rangers and Angels as we zoom past the 70-game mark, the Rangers appear better in the middle of the lineup, the back of the bullpen, the middle of the infield, and no worse than even in the rotation (better ERA, although a worse quality-start percentage).

Now it's true that the Rangers won't play Houston and Pittsburgh all season.

And, yes, all together now: "The heat will get to the Rangers eventually."

But is the heat going to come from the Angels? Going into Thursday they were on a 19-6 run and picked up only a game-and-a-half.

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